[NEWS] Five links about water: Indus River, Great Lakes, underwater, Comet 67P, snowball exoplanets

• The Inter Press Service reports on how the Indus Delta in Pakistan needs more water to survive, here.
• People and businesses living on the shores of the Great Lakes are having a hard time dealing with the high water level. CBC reports.
• Scientists exploring the deeps of the ocean found a ravaged underwater mountain range had restored itself. VICE reports.
• Universe Today notes< an astrophotographer found a chunk of ice orbiting Comet 67P in images from Rosetta.
• Evan Gough at Universe Today notes a study suggesting that snowball exoplanets might actually be good hosts of life.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly considers what it means to live a kintsugi life.
• The Crux looks at the difficulties facing the researches who seek to understand the undeciphered script of the Indus Valley Civilization.
• Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog notes the importance, and relevance, of studying sociological research methods.
• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing revives from the archives an old article from the 1980s looking at the impact of VCRs on their users.
• JSTOR Daily examines the new challenges facing makeup artists in the early Technicolor era of Hollywood in the 1930s.
• Marginal Revolution links to a paper examining the economic motives for well-off Chinese households to engage in the footbinding of young women.
• Gabrielle Bellot writes at the NYR Daily about a remarkable overlooked work by James Baldwin, the children’s book Little Man, Little Man illustrated by Yoran Cazac.
• The Planetary Society Blog notes that the Opportunity rover on Mars is still silent, though there is still hope for the robot that could.
• The Russian Demographics Blog shares a map examining the distribution of speakers of English in the Russian Federation circa 2010.
• Drew Rowsome reviews a collection of the comic horror short stories of Isaac Thorne.
• Speed River Journal’s Van Waffle meditates on lichen and dogs in the park.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel reports on NGC 1052-DF2, a diffuse galaxy that seems to have been formed in the aftermath of a sort of conflict with dark matter. https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/12/27/the-galaxy-that-challenged-dark-matter-and-failed/
• The top post of 2018 at Strange Company was this post looking at the mysterious 1911 murder in Indianapolis of German-born doctor Helen Knabe.
• John Scalzi at Whatever notes, in response to a recent survey suggesting authors have very low incomes, that most authors have never earned that much.
• Window on Eurasia takes a look, in the wake of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, controversy in Belarus over a possible similar move there.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes the sheer complexity of the potential options for the United Kingdom with Brexit makes simple strategies–and a simple referendum question–exceptionally difficult.
• Arnold Zwicky has an enjoyable rumination starting from a Owen Smith parody of the Edward Hopper painting Nighthawk on the cover of The New Yorker.

{NEWS] Five links on the future: water wars, cities of Africa, Japan, EU borders, Pakistan

• Earther shares a world map produced by a group predicting where political conflicts over water scarcity will be likely to develop.
• Ozy notes that the fastest-growing cities in the world will be in Africa.
• This Project Syndicate essay suggests that the economy of Japan is actually doing a better job than some metrics suggest, at least on per capita measures. Is Japan pointing a way towards a better future in the high-income world?
• The Irish Times visits the Poland-Ukraine borders to see how well, or not, traffic there flows. Of special note to the Irish readers is the fact that, despite everything else, Ukraine is trying to get closer to the EU, not further away as with the Brexit UK.
• This essay at The Atlantic looks at how the Pakistan of Imran Khan is negotiating multiple spheres of influence, the West and China and the Middle East, all at once.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Architectuul has an extended long interview with architect Dragoljub Bakić, talking about the innovative architecture of Tito’s Yugoslavia and his experiences abroad.
• Centauri Dreams remarks on how the new maps of Pluto can evoke the worlds of Ray Bradbury.
• The Crux answers an interesting question: What, exactly, is a blazar?
• D-Brief links to a study suggesting that conditions on Ross 128 b, the second-nearest potentially habitable planet, are potentially (very broadly) Earth-like.
• Dangerous Minds shows how John Mellencamp was, in the 1970s, once a glam rocker.
• The Finger Post shares photos from a recent visit to Naypyidaw, the very new capital of Myanmar.
• Gizmodo explains how the detection of an energetic neutrino led to the detection of a distant blazar, marking yet another step forward for multi-messenger astronomy.
• JSTOR Daily reports on the now-overlooked writer of supernatural fiction Vernon Lee.
• Language Log makes an argument that acquiring fluency in Chinese language, including Chinese writing, is difficult, so difficult perhaps as to displace other cultures. Thoughts?
• Lawyers, Guns and Money suggests that the decline of the neo-liberal world order is needed. My main concern is that neo-liberalism may well be the least bad of the potential world orders out there.
• Lingua Franca takes a look at how Hindi and Urdu, technically separate languages, actually form two poles of a Hindustani language continuum.
• The Map Room Blog links to a unique map of the London Underground that shows the elevation of each station.
• Rocky Planet notes that the continuing eruption of Kilauea is going to permanently shape the lives of the people of the Big Island of Hawai’i.
• Window on Eurasia notes that the Buddhists of Kalmykia want the Russian government to permit a visit by the Dalai Lama to their republic.
• Writing at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, Livio Di Matteo notes that the Trump demand NATO governments spend 4% of their GDP on defense would involve unprecedented levels of spending in Canada.

[NEWS] Four geopolitics links: democracy, Trump and China, India and Pakistan, western Balkans

• The suggestion by David Moscrop, at MacLean’s, that between the rise of authoritarian China and the Trump ascendancy in the US, liberal democracy may face particular peril this year seems worryingly plausible.
• Evan Osnos at The New Yorker looks at how the savvy Chinese government is taking advantage of Trump’s incapacities.
• This DefenseOne essay arguing that India is facing a point where it is unable to defeat Pakistan in conventional battle is worth noting.
• This B92 essay arguing that the European Union should make special provisions for the western Balkans to avoid their protracted decay outside of the Union convinces me, at least.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning images, from Jupiter, of the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, and analysis.
• Hornet Stories notes that a reboot of 1980s animation classic She-Ra is coming to Netflix.
• io9 carries reports suggesting that the new X-Men Dark Phoenix movie is going to have plenty of good female representation. Here’s to hoping. It also notes that the seminal George Lucas short film “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB” is viewable for free online, but only for a short while.
• Marginal Revolution links to a paper suggesting that IQ score, more than education, is the single biggest factor explaining why a person might become an inventor.
• The NYR Daily looks at the alliance rightfully called “unholy” between religious militants and the military in Pakistan.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer explains how the strong social networks of Italian migrants in Argentina a century ago helped them eventually do better than native-born Argentines (and Spanish immigrants, too).
• Roads and Kingdoms notes the simple joys of pupusas, Salvadoran tortillas, on a rainy day in Vancouver.
• Towleroad reports on interesting research suggesting that gay men are more likely to have older brothers, even suggesting a possible biological mechanism for this.

Window on Eurasia notes reports of fights between Russian and Muslim students at Russian centres of higher education.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Centauri Dreams takes a look at how stellar winds from red dwarfs complicate the habitability of planets in their circumstellar habitable zones.
• The Crux, noting the 75th anniversary of the atomic age, notes some non-nuclear weapons achievements of this era.
• D-Brief notes the exceptional strength of prehistoric women farmers.
• Daily JSTOR takes a look at the instantaneity and power–frightening power, even–of celebrity culture in an era where technology gives us access to the intimate details of their lives.
• Far Outliers notes that Pearl Buck, American author and missionary in China, actually was egalitarian and feminist.
• The Frailest Thing’s Michael Sacasas considers all those texts created in the past, of importance then and relevant even now, which have been forgotten. How can the canon be restored?
• Imageo shares photos of the eruption of Mount Agung, in Bali.
• Language Hat notes the intense interest of Roman Italy in all things Egyptian, including hieroglyphics. Where, exactly, was the like European interest in the cultures it colonized more recently?
• Language Log tries to find people who can identify the source language of a particular text. It seems Turkic …
• Lingua France talks about Robert Luis Stevenson and his opinions (and the blogger’s) about the weather of Edinburgh.
• Lovesick Cyborg notes the seriously destabilizing potential of roboticization on human employment. To what extent can improving education systems help?
• Tariq Ali at the LRB Blog talks about the latest religious-political crisis in Pakistan.
• The Map Room Blog links to an article describing a Vietnamese historian’s search for cartographic proof of his country’s claims in the South China Sea.
• The NYR Daily considers an interesting question: how, exactly, do you get an actor to act naturally for film? What strategies do filmmakers use?
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer notes a new genetic study hinting at a much greater survival of indigenous populations–women, at least–in Argentina than was previously suspected.
• Roads and Kingdoms notes an interesting effort to try to preserve and restore the older districts of Kabul.
• Seriously Science notes the exploration of the microbial life populating the coffee machine sludge of some inquisitive scientists.
• Window on Eurasia notes that substantially Russian-populated northern Kazakhstan is at risk of becoming a new Russian target, especially after Nazarbayev goes.
• Arnold Zwicky shares some thoughts on people of colour and the LGBTQ rainbow flag.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how evidence of exoplanets can be found in a spectrum of Van Maanen’s Star taken in 1917.
• blogTO notes that Michelle Obama is coming to visit Toronto.
• Dangerous Minds notes that someone has scanned in the copies of 1980s periodical The Twilight Zone Magazine.
• D-Brief notes the tens of thousands of genders of fungus.
• The Dragon’s Gaze notes a paper calculating circumstellar habitable zones and orbits for planets of binary stars.
• The Frailest Thing’s Michael Sacasas argues it is much too late to retroactively add ethical concerns to new technologies.
• Language Log notes the struggle of many to pronounce the name of the president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes an alarming increase in mass shootings in the US over the past decades.
• The LRB Blog argues that a moral panic over “pop-up brothels” helps no one involved.
• Roads and Kingdoms reports</u. on Zubaida Tariq, the Martha Stewart of Pakistan.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel likes the new Discovery episode. I wonder, though: hasn’t Trek always been a bit science fantasy?
• Window on Eurasia argues Russian policies which marginalize non-Russian languages in education may produce blowback.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• The Dragon’s Gaze links to a paper suggesting exoplanet transits could start a galactic communications network.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the connections between eating and identity.
• The Frailest Thing’s Michael Sacasas looks at the need for a critical study of the relationship between technology and democracy.
• Language Hat notes how nationalism split Hindustani into separate Hindi and Urdu languages.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money reflects on the grim outlook in Somalia after the terrible recent Mogadishu bombing.
• Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen thinks Trump’s decertification of the Iran deal is a bad idea.
• The Map Room Blog links to an article imagining a counter-mapping of the Amazon by indigenous peoples.
• Neuroskeptic considers the possibility of Parkinson’s being a prion disease, somewhat like mad cow disease.
• The NYR Daily notes that a Brexit driven by a perceived need to take back control will not meet that need, at all.
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw looks at the problem Sydney faces as it booms.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer looks at the extent to which an independent Catalonia would be ravaged economically by a non-negotiated secession.
• Peter Watts tells the sad story of an encounter between Toronto police and a homeless man he knows.
• Window on Eurasia notes a Sakhalin bridge, like a Crimea bridge, may not come off because of Russian weakness.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Anthrodendum considers what, exactly, anthropology majors can do job-wise with their degrees. Interesting ideas.
• Centauri Dreams considers the possible origins of cometary organics in deep space.
• Hornet Stories talks of anti-immigrant Americans with immigrant ancestors who skirted relevant laws themselves, like Donald Trump.
• Language Hat considers byssus, an exotic ancient textile and a word with a complex history.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at how the potential for disaster in Florida is worsened by poor planning.
• The LRB Blog looks at the sad intersection of war, xenophobia, and rising rates of polio in Pakistan (and elsewhere).
• The Map Room Blog notes an interactive map-related play still showing at the Halifax Fringe, Cartography.
• The NYR Daily notes a high-profile corruption trial of a former government minister in Moscow.
• The Planetary Society Blog shares Paul Schenk’s story about how he interned at JPL in 1979 for the Voyager 2 flyby.
• Roads and Kingdoms looks at the search by a Brazilian man for caves in the south of that country.
• The Volokh Conspiracy asks some interesting questions about the mechanics of Settlers of Catan.
• At Whatever, John Scalzi remembers Jerry Pournelle.
• Window on Eurasia notes how Russia is strongly opposed to any Circassian return to their ancestral homeland.